Maoist demonstrators clash with police in Kathmandu (Roundup)

Kathmandu - Hundreds of Maoist supporters clashed with police in Kathmandu Wednesday, while a top Maoist leader expressed optimism that his party could form a new government. The renewed street protests came as political parties intensified their efforts to form a new government following the collapse of the Maoist-led coalition over the attempted sacking of the army chief. Police clashed with the around 800 Maoist supporters in central Kathmandu after they tried to vandalise a statue of a former king, firing teargas at the protestors. 'The stone-throwing Maoist demonstrators vandalised vehicles and attacked the statue when the police took action,' Kathmandu district police office said. 'We acted to protect public property.' At least two demonstrators and four officers were injured in the clashes, police said. Maoist lawmakers also disrupted a parliamentary session for the second day Wednesday, demanding an apology from President Ram Baran Yadav for reinstating army chief General Rukmangat Katuwal hours after he was sacked by the Maoists, accusing the president of having violated the constitution. They also vowed to step up protests in parliament and on the streets. The political crisis that erupted over the government's attempts to remove Katuwal is threatening to derail the country's peace process following a 2006 peace deal that ended years of civil war in the Himalayan nation. This week the Maoists attempted to replace Katuwal with his second-in-command, General Kul Bahadur Khadka, despite strong opposition from coalition partners. Relations between the army and the Maoist-led government became strained when the army recruited nearly 3,000 new soldiers this year, while the Maoists were seeking to integrate nearly 19,000 of their former guerrilla fighters into the military, as stipulated by the UN-monitored peace accord. Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, who is a senior Maoist politician, tried to block the recruitment, but the army went ahead after the Supreme Court ruled it was legal. On Wednesday, Nepal's former prime minister and chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, told a press conference in Kathmandu that there were still possibilities for the Maoists to join or lead the next government. Dahal resigned on Monday in the power struggle with Yadav over the government decision to sack the army chief. 'The president must first apologize and the unconstitutional step to reinstate the sacked army chief must be overturned,' Dahal said. 'Only then we can join the government or form a government of national consensus.' Dahal also claimed a video in which he said the Maoists had raised the total number of guerrilla fighters from 8,000 to 35,000 after the truce was authentic. The video, which was aired by almost all private television stations in Kathmandu on Tuesday, appeared to have caught the Maoists by surprise. 'Reactionaries and counter-revolutionaries have tried to distract the people from the real issue of president's unconstitutional step by releasing the videotape,' Dahal said. 'We are committed to the peace process and multi-party democracy and nothing will sway us away from that.' Dahal said people needed to know the real organisational structure of the Maoist combatants during insurgency fighting under central, regional and militia command. 'If we add all our militias and regional forces during the conflict to the central command, our combat strength would have surpassed over 100,000,' Dahal said. 'Some of the militia fighters were brought into the central command after the ceasefire and that is why the figures went up from 8,000 to 35,000,' Dahal said. The video generated controversy over Dahal's comment that the final push for communist revolution would be carried out after integration of Maoist combatants into the national army. Some analysts say the real reason behind the sacking of the army chief was his opposition to integration of politically indoctrinated Maoist former guerrillas. The Maoists emerged as the single-largest party in the constituent assembly but were well short of a majority in elections in April 2008, necessitating a coalition government.